Articles Index
Francois Hollande
The president of France, sworn in on May 15, 2012, after defeating President Nicolas Sarkozy's quest for a second term. The second Socialist after Francois Mitterand to be elected president in the Fifth Republic.
Al Qaeda
The terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., has a history dating back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Venezuela
The country declared independence from Spain in 1811, the first Spanish-American colony to do so. The country got a taste of democratic rule in the 1940s, but struggled with dictatorships and coups.
Mali
The first elected president, Modibo Keita, turned Mali into a socialist one-party state. The regime was overthrown in a 1968 coup, which is now celebrated on Liberation Day. Another coup in 1991 led to the March Revolution and the country's first multiparty, democratic elections in 1992. In March 2012, rebel forces inside the military staged a coup against the government of President Amadou Toumani Toure.
Joseph Kony
A Ugandan guerrilla known for sending his troops into villages after dark to kidnap children to serve in his army or serve his battalion as sex slaves or porters; those who resisted have been usually viciously maimed with a machete.
Syria
Settlement in Syria can be traced back to Neolithic communities in 10,000 B.C. The modern Syrian Arab Republic is an authoritarian regime under the Assad dynasty.
Robert Mugabe
A profile of the president of Zimbabwe.
Goodluck Jonathan
A profile of the president of Nigeria and commander of the armed forces since 2010, a southern Christian in a country wracked by Islamist insurgent violence.
Kim Jong-un
A profile of the "Great Successor," as officially deemed in North Korea, to his late father, "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il. The third and youngest son of the elder Kim, who groomed him as heir apparent in the last year of his life amid failing health.
Kim Jong-Il
A profile of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Il
Iran
Nearly 78 million people live in Iran. The largest ethnic group is Persian, with 61 percent of the population, and the official religion is Shiite Islam.
Ali Khamenei
The ayatollah is the last word on all dealings in the Islamic Republic, even the confirmation of an elected president, and an international mouthpiece for the Islamic Revolution as the second ayatollah to serve as the conservative figurehead since 1979.
Cambodia
A profile of the country in southeastern Asia that shares a southeastern border with Vietnam, a northern border with Laos, and a northwestern border with Thailand.
Sergei Magnitsky
A civil law specialist at Moscow law firm Firestone Duncan, Sergei Magnitsky's probe reportedly unveiled the biggest tax fraud scheme in Russia's history.
Ayman al-Zawahiri
A profile of the most wanted terrorist on the FBI's list, the longtime second-in-command to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who took over control of the organization after bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces on May 2, 2011, in Pakistan.
Turkey
Straddling two continents at the nexus between Asia and Europe, Turkey is a regional economic and military power.
Moammar Gadhafi
A profile of the longtime ruler of Libya
Angela Merkel
The first female leader of a major continental European power and the first woman to lead Germany since it was born as a modern nation-state in 1871. She is also the first former citizen of East Germany to lead the country since reunification, and the youngest chancellor since World War II.
Taiwan
Economic and social ties have blossomed with China even though the countries have been at political impasse about China's "one China" goal of pulling Taiwan rule into the mainland. On the other side is a Taiwan independence movement that wants to attain international recognition as a sovereign state.
Vladimir Putin
A profile of Russian politician Vladimir Putin.
Nicolas Sarkozy
A profile of the president of France since 2007, succeeding two-term Jacques Chirac after defeating Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal.
France
The largest country in western Europe, France has a colorful history and is the top tourist destination in the world. Learn more about France.
Dalai Lama
A profile of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, the spiritual leader of Tibet and longtime leader of the Tibetan government in exile.
Malath Aumran
Malath Aumran is the alias for Rami Nakhle, a Syrian pro-democracy activist who has waged a cyber campaign of dissent against the regime of Bashar Assad. Learn more about this campaigner for Syrian freedom.
Anders Behring Breivik
A right-wing extremist detonated a powerful bomb outside the prime minister's headquarters in Oslo, Norway, on July 22, 2011, and then two hours later killed teens gathered for a Labor Party summer camp on Utoya island. Learn more about the confessed attacker, Anders Behring Breivik.